When people think about what makes a start-up work, they often focus on the idea, the market opportunity and scalability. But Ella Miron-Spektor, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, says another key predictor of success is how the founding team is built. 

In this episode of INSEAD Explains Entrepreneurship, she shares her research on what separates resilient, innovative start-ups from those that stall. 

Teams that succeed use a hybrid formation strategy, says Miron-Spektor. They work with people they know and trust but who also bring in complementary skills and expertise. This mix helps teams divide roles clearly, coordinate effectively and learn faster together. 

In one study of Kickstarter campaigns, teams using this approach raised more than twice as much funding. In another, their first-year survival rates nearly quadrupled.

Success depends on how you learn

Start-ups often operate in fast-changing environments, where there’s no clear playbook. According to Miron-Spektor, success depends less on flawless execution and more on how teams respond when things don’t go as planned. “Successful entrepreneurs are willing to unlearn,” she says, “to revisit their assumptions, update their beliefs and adapt based on new evidence.”

One of Miron-Spektor’s central ideas is the value of a paradox mindset, which is the ability to navigate opposing demands without rushing to resolve them. “For start-ups, this often means being flexible and structured, decisive and reflective, optimistic and realistic, sometimes all at once,” she says.

Teams with a paradox mindset don’t get paralysed when facing competing demands. Instead, they learn to use that tension as a source of creativity. As Miron-Spektor explains, developing this way of thinking begins by asking different kinds of questions and being willing to lean into discomfort.

In the end, the product or the pitch matters, but not as much as the people you build with, and how you learn and think together along the way.